


Against Type

by Ray_Writes



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Post-Episode: s04e13 Journey's End, Pre-Relationship, Tenth Doctor Critical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:33:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26326456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ray_Writes/pseuds/Ray_Writes
Summary: A comment from her sister has Martha considering her past relationships, the ways in which her and Mickey’s working partnership differs or doesn’t and why that might be a good thing.
Relationships: Martha Jones/Mickey Smith
Comments: 15
Kudos: 20





	Against Type

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Felt like writing something about Martha and Mickey the other day, and this was the result.
> 
> I’ll warn you; there is a line in here that is fairly critical of and implies something rather bad about Ten. However, his treatment of both Martha and Mickey while they traveled with him would’ve definitely been discussed between them at some point, and it’s something I could see them thinking about, even just for a moment. If that bothers you, I don’t really know what to say other than the fact that Ten’s treatment of these two wonderful characters bothers me more, and I’m not going to just ignore it in a story focused primarily on them.
> 
> That all being said, I hope that you will enjoy the fic!

She hadn’t meant to tell anyone, but that was the thing about having a sister. You just tended to share everything with each other the minute you saw them again. So in the middle of a catch-up session over brunch where Martha had been telling Tish about her and Mickey’s latest job, she maybe got a little too into explaining her partner’s role in things.

“He’d been studying their systems inside and out for two days, and he ended up rigging a transmission to make it look like it was coming from their home planet,” Martha told Tish excitedly. “Telling then to report home right away. So now they’re off and about to be totally clueless when they finally get there. Course, doesn’t stop them from coming back, but it gives us more time to prepare. I mean, it was brilliant!”

“Can you gush about him more? I’m not sure I know how brilliant he is,” Tish deadpanned. Martha paused one raising her glass to her lips, feeling her cheeks heat a little. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’ve got a crush.”

“Well…”

Tish’s mouth fell open, and Martha prepared herself for a lecture on dating someone you work with, but what her sister said next was, “On _Mickey_?”

Martha frowned. “What’s wrong with Mickey?”

“Nothing, but he’s not exactly your type, is he?”

Martha set her glass down fully and crossed her arms. “What is my type, exactly?” This ought to be good.

Tish smirked. “Skinny posh boys with a doctorate?”

Okay, that was pretty good. Martha looked away. “I’m over all that. Call it expanding my horizons.”

“Yeah, but Mickey?”

“Let’s drop it, alright?” Martha requested, feeling hurt and unsure and most of all upset on Mickey’s behalf. “How’s your job?”

They chatted for a while more, but Martha was glad to pay her share of the bill and head back to her flat, mulling over her feelings and Tish’s reaction to them. Was it really so surprising she might go for someone like Mickey?

Sure, on paper, he hardly resembled the Doctor or Tom. If anything, Martha considered that a good thing. She’d had about enough of the skinny posh boys, as her sister had put it.

And so what if Mickey didn’t have some fancy title and a degree? He had practical experience in spades and a drive to learn things all on his own. Martha didn’t doubt if things had been different — if he had come from somewhere other than a council estate, if he’d been white — his teachers would have seen the potential in him and encouraged it, forwarded him on to all kinds of higher learning opportunities. But Mickey hadn’t even needed them and their biased help. He’d taught himself computers just the same as he used trial and error to build them new tech to go up against any hostile aliens they came up against in their line of work. He hadn’t let it keep him down.

Martha felt a sense of solidarity in that. Both of them, in their time traveling, had been left largely to figure things out on their own when traveling with the Doctor, at least compared to some of his other companions they’d met. They’d shared one or two quiet, wondering conversations in the dead of night over a drink if there had been a reason to their being singled out that way, and if the reason wasn’t all that alien to their lives here on Earth. In the end, they’d decided it was for the best that they’d found each other now, and that the past was the past.

But what about the future? Should Martha act on her growing feelings, or was this just some fleeting crush borne from spending most of her time with Mickey and sharing the highs of doing the work they did? Surely that he _wasn’t_ her commonly assumed type meant that what she was feeling was genuine, right?

It wasn’t like she just liked him because he was everything the Doctor and Tom weren’t. That wasn’t true either. If there was one thing all three men shared, it was a desire to make their world a better place, to step in and help where they saw it needed doing. That was something Martha felt a calling for as well.

The difference was that Mickey did it _with_ her, together and as equals. She’d been wanting that for so long, why wouldn’t she fall for the man who finally gave that to her? No, as far as Martha was concerned, the question Tish should’ve asked at brunch wasn’t why Martha had feelings for Mickey; it was why had it taken her this long to admit it?

She supposed because, just as people might have decided Mickey wasn’t her type, Martha didn’t know if she was his. She wasn’t blonde, she didn’t have that childhood connection to him that Rose had had. Martha didn’t think she could set herself up to act on feelings for someone who might see her as an alright substitute for Rose Tyler once again. Not that Mickey had ever given her that feeling before. For someone who had known Rose for nearly ten times longer than the Doctor, he didn’t bring her up half as often, and never in comparison. She supposed that meant he was over her.

But that didn’t mean he was into Martha, either. She wasn’t going to get her hopes up that way again for nothing.

Her phone rang, and Martha glanced at the caller ID. “Must’ve been his ears burning,” she remarked to herself before answering. “Hey.”

_“Hey, you still at breakfast?”_

“Nope. Why?”

_“Got a call from a bloke in South London. Says he’s convinced he’s got monsters in his bathroom pipes. Reckon you got time for a consultation visit?”_

“Definitely.” If nothing else, it meant more time together. And that really said how serious this was getting for her.

_“Alright, I’ll pick you up by 11.”_

“It’s a date,” she said, careful to keep her tone light. Martha told herself not to put any stock in his answer anyway.

Yet Mickey crowed with delight in a way that had her grinning hard enough to hurt her cheeks. _“Business and pleasure. I like the way you think, Jones.”_

“Yeah? Then get off the phone and come get me,” she teased, feeling brave.

_“Yes, ma’am.”_

Martha was still smiling as she hung up and pocketed her phone, quick marching back to her flat to change into some better clothes for work. Her relationship with Mickey wasn’t like any relationship she’d had with a man before, and in a lot of ways, it was thrilling and terrifying at once.

She wouldn’t trade it for the skinniest, poshest boy with fifty doctorates. The days were over when she’d settle for mooning over a pretty face, not when something far better had come along.


End file.
